BALTIMORE — Mark Teixeira’s career as a Yankee began here in his hometown, where Orioles fans showered him with boos on opening day in 2009, loathing him for accepting the richest contract he was offered.

Teixeira returned Friday, now at the tail end of that eight-year, $180 million deal, but the boos that have greeted his subsequent visits resumed when he came to bat.

Much has changed in the intervening seasons, but one thing has not: Teixeira is still the embodiment of the Yankees.

Back then, he represented their muscle, financial and otherwise, when they swooped in to sign him away from the Boston Red Sox, buying their way back into the World Series with a $423.5 million free-agent splurge that was a reaction to having missed the postseason for the first time since 1993.

Now, Teixeira, 36, is symbolic of what the Yankees have become — an aging, deteriorating team that cannot seem to stay healthy or productive.

On Saturday morning, after he was forced out of Friday’s game when his right knee locked up, the Yankees announced that Teixeira had torn cartilage and had been placed on the disabled list. He will meet with the team physician, Dr. Christopher Ahmad, on Monday to determine a course of action.

At the moment, the plan is to rest the knee and see if the discomfort subsides enough for Teixeira to return. If not, he will have surgery, which would most likely end his season.

Image

Alex Rodriguez after striking out in the second inning against the Baltimore Orioles.CreditGreg Fiume/Getty Images

But what the Yankees also need, along with a return to health of Teixeira’s knee and neck — which has required two cortisone shots to soothe a bulging disk — is his bat. He is hitting .180, with three home runs — none since April 13, a span of 142 at-bats, the longest homerless streak of his career.

“Nothing feels good right now,” Teixeira said Saturday. “My body just hasn’t worked right this year. It’s so frustrating, because I do everything I’m supposed to do, and I worked my tail off this off-season.

One of the few times his assertiveness returned was when he was asked if his impending free agency might affect his decision on whether to try to return or to have surgery sooner so he would have time to show prospective employers that he had recovered.

“That’s a fair question, but my free agency has nothing to do with this season,” he said. “I’m worried about tomorrow. I’m going to do whatever is best to be able to get back this year and help the team win this year.”

Little has come easy for the Yankees, who hung on for an 8-6 victory on Saturday night after nearly blowing the seven-run lead they held in the seventh inning. They are in fourth place in the American League East, at 26-29, and a turnaround looks as dicey as Teixeira’s recovery.

Since 2011, Teixeira has been on the disabled list at one time or another with knee, wrist, hamstring, calf, latissimus and shin injuries. He was also sidelined briefly twice this season with what he called a bulging disk in his neck. In all, he has missed 283 games in the last five seasons.

The Yankees thought they were well fortified at first base until doctors reversed course in late January and prescribed shoulder surgery for Greg Bird, the prospect who hit 11 home runs in 46 games in Teixeira’s absence last season. They recently lost the backup Dustin Ackley to shoulder surgery.

General Manager Brian Cashman signed Chris Parmelee and Nick Swisher to minor league deals during spring training and offered a similar deal to James Loney, who declined. The Mets recently acquired Loney, who homered Friday, when Lucas Duda was hurt. (The Yankees called up Parmelee on Saturday.)

“Everyone was saying, How can you send Bird to Triple A?” Cashman said. “He was supposed to be waiting in the wings. All of a sudden, at the end of winter, we had a problem that no one expected. You lose your biggest insurance policy.”

Cashman said Saturday that he had not yet looked at trade possibilities because there was nothing definitive about Teixeira’s status.

To live in Baltimore, where few have forgiven the Colts for leaving, is to have a long memory. When Bill Cowher, who has not coached the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in 10 years, was shown on the stadium scoreboard Friday, he drew vociferous boos — even though he was wearing an Orioles cap.

“Ours aren’t booers — they voice their opinion,” Orioles Manager Buck Showalter, a former Yankees manager, said before Friday’s game. “I’ve been around booing in New York.”

As Showalter noted, the Orioles have a pretty good first baseman in Chris Davis, who signed a seven-year, $161 million contract last winter.

“It kind of tells you how good of baseball fans we have,” Showalter said. “They understand where Mark is from and how much they would have liked for him to play in Baltimore. Worked out for everybody. It worked out for Chris Davis and it worked out for Mark. So, one door closes, another one opens.”

The same may soon be said for Teixeira.

In spring training, he spoke confidently of wanting to play another five years. On Saturday, Teixeira had other ideas.

“I want to play five more games right now,” he said.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page SP2 of the New York edition with the headline: Knee Injury Sidelines Waning Teixeira. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe